Bathroom Renovation

(May 2024)

I originally wanted to renovate my bathroom in 2023 but it didn't happen. This is unfortunate because around Dec. 2023 my water heater sprung a leak and was replaced. It would have been nice to incorporate the water heater replacement with the bathroom renovation. Oh well. Here are some pics from 2023. You can see a PEX patch made recently. I don't remember when but you can see that it was leaking for a long time. Lots of water damage.

Behind tub drain

Very rotten wood

Vent stack and a big hole

(April 2024)

I found a product called "Palisade" that is an interlocking vinyl tile product much like used in flooring but this is used for shower installs. Hopefully easier than ceramic tile.

A nearby Lowes has it

They only had two styles

This looks just like the flooring i selected

So I went with a more gray look

I removed the 1970s era wood panelling and found perfectly good and even painted plaster underneath. Why did we install panelling everywhere in the 1970s?

(April 2024)

When I bought the house, there was a mirror mounted in the wall tile. I quickly put a medicine cabinet over it because the bathroom had no storage. No drawers, no shelves, nothing. Now that mirror has to go.

(May, 30, 2024)

In planning for not having a shower, I purchased a cheap outdoor shower and installed it in my back yard with a garden hose. It worked pretty well. The water even got too hot depending on the time you used it. The shower lasted just under four months when one side of it ripped open and then the unit collapsed. I was hoping to get a little more time out of it but oh well.

With the shower situation under control, real demo could begin.

Before demo	Long live the fish!	Relax, I saved the fish	Between bath and danger rooms

Demoing the shower was fun. There was a complete plastic shower insert under the plastic shower insert, with regular drywall under that. But the exterior wall is even weirder. It has the two plastic shower inserts but then a layer of wallpaper on top of the famous pink tile all on top of a layer rock-wall and plaster. Giving all these layers, furring out from 2x4 to 2x6, I don't really loose any floor space. :) (June 2024)

With the walls open it was time to demo the tub and floor. With some lubrication and leverage, I was able to disconnect the tub without having to cut it. Then a call to a couple of friends, a trip to the dump, and it was gone.

Lubrication and leverage

I did this a month later

(July 2024)

Demo isn't finished yet but I have started repairing some things. The bottom plate of the wet wall was mostly holes, cutouts, and rot. So I replaced it. I also started the corner and top plate for the new wall.

studs in wet wall

Window time. I purchased the window early in 2023. Now it is finally time to install it. The windows were replaced, I am guessing, in the 1980s given that they are double-pain and aluminum frames. So I didn't need to cut the stucco, I just needed to break it up to the cut the made in the 80s. (Aug 2024)

Since I have everything open, and it is code, I guess I will install an exhaust fan.

Plumbers. I hate plubming, and BarJ is a good plumbing company in town so I am happy to give them my business.

New PVC

Keep iron stack

Old copper

New PEX

Cleanout

Structure repair. Apparently installing a toilet can involve cutting all the way throug a floor joist. This seems extreemly crazy to me but that is what they did when they built the house. So I fixed it.

(September 2024)

The plubmers have finished enough of the drain and water inlet system that I can start installing subfloor.

I never used the old bathtub as a tub. I don't fit in standard sized tubs. So I replaced the tub with a shower pan. Now the shower feels much larger than it ever did with a tub. Again, BarJ did the plumbing and shower pan install.

October 2025

When they replaced the water heater in 2023, I never liked that it was sitting on 50 year old plywood. So while they were here, I asked them to put 2x4s that spanned two joists under the water heater. Also had them install a full-port, ball-valve drain.

One of the reasons to renovate the bathroom was to extend the inner wall to be flush with the rest of the hallway instead of having an "alcove". This gave me about 10 more square feet of floor space in the bathroom and allowed for a proper vanity and countertop. I also installed blocking for a towel rack. Since I am tall, I installed it about seven feet above the floor.

This seemed like a good time to install a vent fan. The window is only about 1 square foot in area. To meet code, I either need a 2 square foot opening window or a fan. So I installed a fan/light combo. The roof penetration leaked the first time it rained, fortunatly I had not buttoned up everything yet and was able to add more mastic. 15 minutes with the garden host directly at it from various angles showed no more leaks. Don't ever cut a hole in your roof. :)

AC vent

AC duct

New fan/light

Duct for vent

Small roof vent

December 2024

Time to start walling in the shower stall. I used GoBoard from Johns Manville. It is lighweight and waterproof, but you will want gloves because of the fiberglass. I used GoBoard screws which have a large flat head. The ceiling was 3/4 inch, mold-resistant gypsum board.

GoBoard

3/4 drywall

January 2025

More GoBoard. I am pretty proud of my tight installs. I did use some backer rod between the GoBoard and the shower pan. I learned later that I was supposed to mount the GoBoard over the flang and flush with the lip of the shower pan instead of leaving a gap. Maybe next time.

Shower controls

backer rod

February 2025

For the rest of the bathroom, I used mold-resistant drywall. 3/4 inch for the ceiling, because the rafters on 16 inch OC, and 1/2 inch for the walls. I also used Rockwool sound proofing. I may also have hung my last 6-panel door frame. I also covered all the screw penitrations and seams in the GoBoard with GoBoard tape and sealent. Just to be sure.

Sound proofing			new door frame	junction	light

I decided to use vinyl tiles from Palisades instead of ceramic or porcelain because I thought it would be easier and not feel as cold as classic tile does. I like that it feels warm to the touch but I am not sure it was much easier than mortar and grout.

Paint for the bathroom was semi-gloss latex from Sherwin Williams. The floor tile was a marble-looking vinyl laminate from Pergo.

March 2025

I kept the toilet from the old bathroom. But it turns out that when you keep a toilet in your living room for a year, all the seals dry out and you need to replace all of them.

Just like all the other doors I have replaced in the house, I used a pre-hung, 6-panel, solid-core door with a Schlage knob. This time I coated it in oil-based polyurathane given how wet bathrooms can get.

I ordered a Jackques 36inch vanity by Lexora from Home Depot. But I needed to create a countertop. So I glued two pieces of 3/4inch plywood, used the floor tiles for the top, and the shower tiles for the backsplash.

I am tall and I don't want to have to bend over to wash my hands. So I went with a vessel sink that sits on top of the vanity. The sink and faucet is from allen+roth. The medicine cabinate was the one I purchased around 2003 when I bought the house. I painted it gray and silver to match my color scheme.

Farmhouse faucet

DONE

I also replaced the window with a vinyl window from Pella, and the sill was plastic from Sill-Rite.